Childhood Social Gender Transition and Psychosocial Well-Being: A Comparison to Cisgender Gender-Variant Children

Objective: There is increasing interest regarding best practice for promoting well-being among gender-variant children. Social gender transition (e.g., name, pronoun, clothing changes) may benefit gender-variant children who desire to be of a gender that does not align with their birth-assigned sex. This study examined psychosocial challenges experienced by socially transitioned children and cisgender (i.e., birth-assigned sex and gender identity align) gender-variant children. Method: We used data from published samples of gender-variant children (N = 266) reporting psychosocial well-being using the Child Behavior Checklist or similar measures. A statistical bootstrapping approach was used to control for birth-assigned sex, age, and degree of gender variance when comparing cisgender gender-variant (CGV) and socially transitioned children described as being supported in their gender identities. Within the CGV sample, we examined parental attitudes toward childhood gender variance, as well as correlations between these parental attitudes and peer relations with children’s psychological well-being. Results: There was little evidence that psychosocial well-being varied in relation to gender transition status. Parents of CGV children were generally accepting of childhood gender variance, but only poor peer relations predicted lower psychological well-being among these children. Conclusion: Socially transitioned children appear to experience similar levels of psychosocial challenges as CGV children. While further research is needed to evaluate possible effects of childhood social gender transition on well-being, this study suggests experiences of psychosocial challenges among gender-variant children require monitoring irrespective of transition status, and relationships with peers may be especially important to consider.